Controlling Your Cycle: Understanding Period Skipping with Birth Control Pills

A monthly period is just a minor inconvenience for some women, but for others, it can be a major health concern. Using birth control pills gives you the choice to decide when and if you want to become pregnant, while also letting you control when and if you have a period.

Why Skip Your Period?

Research shows that if given the choice, most women would prefer extended menstrual cycles. Many women may have medical reasons for wanting to skip a period including headaches, cramping, painful periods, heavy bleeding, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Other women just don't want the hassle of having a period—perhaps they have a vacation coming up, a honeymoon, a sporting event, or a big project at work. Having the power to skip a period can give you a lot of relief, both physically and emotionally.

The good news is that skipping your period with the pill is easy, safe, and reliable. In fact, most healthcare providers agree that there is no medical need to have a period when you're on the pill.

While some women are understandably concerned about the safety of skipping periods, research has consistently shown that it is completely safe to do. Moreover, skipping your period doesn't compromise the effectiveness of your birth control pills.

The truth is, you are not even having a true period when you're taking the pill anyway. It's actually called a withdrawal bleed and, since you're not building up your uterine lining while you're on birth control, it's unnecessary.

How the Pill Works

How to Skip Your Period

Here is how to skip your period using birth control pills:

1. Determine the month that you wish to skip your period.
2. Continue to take all the pills in your pill pack during the month prior to wanting to skip your period.
3. After finishing the pack's active pills, do not begin the placebo (or inactive) pills. Instead, start day 1 of your next pack on the day that you would have taken your first placebo pill.
4. Continue taking all the pills in your new pill pack.
5. When you reach the placebo pills in your new pill pack, your monthly withdrawal bleed (period) should return.

Keep in mind that some women may experience spotting or breakthrough bleeding at the same time when they would have had their period.

Planning Tips

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when you're planning to skip your period:

• Make sure you have enough pill packs (if you only want to skip one period, then you'll need two packs of pills—one for your current month and one for the upcoming month).
• Keep track of where you are in your pill pack since you must start the next pack during your fourth (placebo) week of your previous pack.
• If you only wish to skip one period, as soon as you begin your next pack, continue as you normally would. However, if you want to skip the next month’s period as well, just repeat steps 2 to 5 above.
• Ask your healthcare provider about prescribing you more pills so you can skip your period whenever you want. Alternately, you can request a prescription for a quarterly pill like Seasonique.

Be aware that some insurance companies will not allow you to pick up your prescription early. Make sure to find this out in advance if you're planning to skip your period and need to purchase that next pack of pills before the end of the month.

First-Time Pill Users

If you know ahead of time that you want to use the pill to skip your period and you're not yet taking the pill, give yourself enough time to do the following:

• See a healthcare provider to obtain a prescription.
• Make sure you have at least three weeks to take all of your active pills before you need to skip your period.
• Remember that you typically need to wait for your next period to begin before starting birth control pills.

Reasons to Switch Birth Control Pills